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We are heading towards a new Gregorian calendar year, a new beginning, a new genesis. It’s a good time to check up and see if we are where we need to be, both spiritually and physically.
Is it time to stay put, or a time to rise up and go?
The Bible is filled with peoples lives and experiences that all of us go through at one time or another. The characters highlighted in the stories are not happenstance but there as examples for us. As 2 Timothy 3:16 reminds us that: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
When a crisis hits our lives we usually have 2 options. Stay and Deal with it or Run, we call it Fight or Flight. Sometimes when we are running from trouble we end up in the strangest of places. In the midst of his flight away from his twin brother, Jacob stumbled on the one place on earth where he most needed to be. Even when we think we are doing things in our own way and on our schedule, our Heavenly Father has a way of leading us into a place and circumstances where He can get our full attention.
Often when we are running, it’s away from our past, and we are running after, or to something, that we think will be much better and more fulfilling. Yet, how often do we contemplate and realize that where we are right now, is exactly the place our Heavenly Father wants us to be? Right now our lives may not be what we would prefer and yet despite our impatience and restlessness, is it very possible that He is in ‘this place’ and we didn’t know it. We need to remember that whatever is going on and wherever we are, His arm is not so short that He cannot bring us closer to Himself.
This place where we are now, may not be what we were dreaming of or expecting, but our Heavenly Father is here with us because He is faithful to His promises. We may have been camping, resting, waiting here for quite some time and wondering when He will move us on. But perhaps the reason we’re still here is because here is right where we need to be. Maybe He’s been waiting for us to stop long enough to realize that He’s been at the top of our ladder all along.
Jacob took the time to mark the place and maybe we should too, because like Jacob our Father may lead us back there again before we know it.
Genesis 28:20-22.
Jacob was truly overwhelmed when he realized he was in a place with The Fathers presence, yet he still found it hard to believe. Even though Adonai had revealed himself to Jacob in a dream, reaffirmed the covenant made previously with Abraham and Isaac; and was moved to set up a standing stone in the name of the lord he still wanted proof of his faithfulness by asking Him to demonstrate the truth of His word. Jacob was a lot like us, he didn’t know when to stop while he was ahead. He says in
Genesis 28:20-22
(Paraphrase)
If God is with me in this way which I am going and gives to me this and provides for me that and does whatever I expect him to do whenever I require him to do it then God will become my God.
Jacob had a history of being sneaky and deceitful so its no wonder he would take a ‘wait and see’ attitude with the Lord many times we always judge others actions by our own standards. As disciples of Messiah however, we would do better to take our Heavenly Father at His Word, rather than dictating rules and regulations for Him to follow and fulfill. The ‘anointed standing stone’ has been established in the Rock of our Salvation, Yeshua haMashiach; the foundation of His house – Beth’el, be laid in our lives without question and that the Way we will GO, will be with Him.
Jacob fought hard, struggling with Adonai for his blessing and sometimes we do the same, instead of just being content to be in His presence. However like Jacob we should hold on and refuse to let go, but not just to get a blessing; rather than struggling with Him for what He already wants to give us, let’s hold onto Him for dear life and never let go.. Giving up that struggle and allowing him to take us wherever he wants us to go. With a life of running, deceit and lies finally all behind him, Jacob was ready to fully embrace His blessing. Having met his match in Adonai, and at last experiencing everlasting change reflected in His new name Israel; He confesses that the Father has prevailed in the battle for his heart…
God has answered me in the day of my distress…way I have gone. Adonai is with Jacob/Israel and no matter how much he fights and struggles against Him our Heavenly Father will never leave him.
For all of us who have wrestled with the Father, who have fought against Him for control of our paths and the direction that we thought was best, it’s time to confess that
God is with us – Immanuel – עִמָּנוּאֵל
and not only that we remember Immanuel –עִמָּנוּאֵל – at Christmas time but always, every day, everywhere…
and then to
rise up and go.
Let’s turn aside from the gods of the foreigner and the world which are in our midst. Cleanse ourselves and change our clothes and wear those garments of salvation, and then we will rise and go up to Beth’el, the house of God, and set up a testimony to His promises and blessings.
Rise up and go… let’s renounce all our idols, vain traditions and religious bondages that actually keep us from the closeness of a true relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Rise up and go…. let’s turn wholeheartedly to Him and away from things we have grown by habit to be dependent upon.
Rise up and go….. let’s walk boldly as the ‘terror of god’ goes before us, overcoming all who would chase us.
It’s time to take our stand for the One who will always stand for us …. so let us rise and go up.
qum – לקום – to get up, to stand up, to arise; to be established …
Meaning to get up, to stand up, to arise; to be established, to come into being
Strong’s Hebrew: 6965. קוּם (qum) — Arise, stand, establish …
The prodigal impulse, “I will arise and go to my father,” echoes earlier Hebrew narratives of repentance: Jonah 3:3 – “So Jonah arose and went to Ninevah
Strong’s Hebrew: 1980. הָלַך (halak) — To go, walk, come …
הָלַך (halak) — To go, walk, come, proceed, move.